Caucasus Conference CFP; St Andrews, April 2010

[Claire Whitehead]

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE CAUCASUS
UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS: 16-17TH APRIL 2010

THE CAUCASUS: IMAGINING FREEDOM, NEGOTIATING DOMINION
CALL FOR PAPERS

Organised by:
The Centre for Russian, Soviet and Central and Eastern European Studies,
University of St Andrews; supported by CRCEES.

The Centre for Russian, Soviet and Central and Eastern European Studies at
the University of St Andrews will dedicate its annual conference to the
history, culture, politics, and regional and international security of the
Caucasus.    

The Caucasus Mountains mark the transition point between Europe and Asia,
and it is this geographical position that has largely defined the history of
the region. As a meeting place between East and West, it retains many of the
signs of cross-cultural influence, as well as the scars of past conflicts.
Due to its intermediary location, scholarly discussion of the area has often
been overdetermined by the nations and cultural traditions surrounding it.
The aim of this conference is to look at the Caucasus as it appears in the
cultural imaginations of those nations and empires with which its historical
life has been inextricably intertwined, and to compare such views with the
self-understanding and experience of the diverse national traditions of
which it is comprised. By juxtaposing perceptions of the Caucasus from
without with those from within we hope to arrive at a more nuanced picture
of the region in the cultural and political landscape of the twenty-first
century. We invite paper proposals from young and established scholars in
the humanities and social sciences in the following strands:

•        Caucasian self-identity
•        The Caucasus as a place of foreign imagining (particularly in
Russia and
the Near and Middle East)
•        Geopolitics and the Soviet legacy
•        Imperial history and cultural domination
•        Religion and ecumenical developments
•        Language, translation and cultural exchange
•        Sustainable development and environmental thought
•        Energy and pipeline politics
•        Conflicts and peace negotiations
•        The roles of NGOs and intergovernmental organizations
•        The August 2008 war and its aftermath
•        Prospects for regional integration

Among confirmed keynote speakers:

—His Excellency Fakhraddin Gurbanov, Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan
—Professor B. George Hewitt (SOAS), ‘The Georgian-Abkhazian Conflict: A
Non-Conventional View’
—Professor Donald Rayfield (Royal Holloway) on ‘Processes since the end of
the USSR: A Pattern since Antiquity?’
—Professor John Russell (Bradford), ‘Peace after Protracted Conflict:
Lessons from Chechnya for the North Caucasus and Beyond’

PROPOSALS

Deadline for Submission: 11 January 2010.

(i) Individual proposals
Should be of 300-400 words, and must be in English. Please also supply a
short bio-bibliographical statement. Individual proposals should be
submitted electronically to Dr Claire Whitehead at: cew12 at st-andrews.ac.uk.

 (ii) Panel proposals
We particularly welcome proposals for interdisciplinary panels covering two
or more strands, or more than one Caucasian country. One proposal (in
English) of 400-500 words, and including each paper title, should be
submitted electronically to Dr Claire Whitehead at: cew12 at st-andrews.ac.uk.
Please also supply a short bio-bibliographical statement for each proposed
speaker and individual paper abstracts as above.

REGISTRATION (including refreshments and Saturday conference lunch):  £40
graduate students; £50 academics.

There may be a limited number of travel and accommodation subsidies
available for the conference. Participants are asked to contact the centre
directly when registering.

Publication of conference papers. The Centre intends to publish a fully
refereed collection of contributions from the conference. Selected authors
will be asked to expand their conference papers into article-length pieces
for consideration for this publication.  

Conference Committee:
Rick Fawn; Emily Finer; Oliver Smith; Claire Whitehead (director of centre)

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